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arXiv:0903.2263 · Physical Review A

Shell-model Monte Carlo simulations of the BCS-BEC crossover in few-fermion systems

Nikolaj Thomas Zinner, Klaus Mølmer, C. Özen, David J. Dean, Karlheinz Langanke

Published Jul 23, 2009• 23 citations
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Abstract

We study a trapped system of fermions with a zero-range two-body interaction using the shell-model Monte Carlo method, providing ab initio results for the low particle number limit where mean-field theory is not applicable. We present results for the $N$-body energies as function of interaction strength, particle number, and temperature. The subtle question of renormalization in a finite model space is addressed and the convergence of our method and its applicability across the BCS-BEC crossover is discussed. Our findings indicate that very good quantitative results can be obtained on the BCS side, whereas at unitarity and in the BEC regime the convergence is less clear. Comparison to $N=2$ analytics at zero and finite temperature, and to other calculations in the literature for $N>2$ show very good agreement.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.80.013613

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We study a trapped system of fermions with an attractive zero-range two-body interaction using the Shell-Model Monte Carlo method. The method provides {\em ab initio} results in the low NNN limit where mean-field theory is not applicable. The energy and pairing properties are presented as functions of interaction strength, particle number, and temperature. In the interesting region where typical matrix elements of the two-body interaction are comparable to the level spacing of the trap we find large odd-even effects and signatures of shell structure. As a function of temperature, we observe the disappearance of these effects as in a phase transition.
We determine the energetically lowest-lying states in the BEC-BCS crossover regime of sss-wave interacting two-component Fermi gases under harmonic confinement by solving the many-body Schr\"odinger equation using two distinct approaches. Essentially exact basis set expansion techniques are applied to determine the energy spectrum of systems with N=4N=4N=4 fermions. Fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo methods are applied to systems with up to N=20N=20N=20 fermions, and a discussion of different guiding functions used in the Monte Carlo approach to impose the proper symmetry of the fermionic system is presented. The energies are calculated as a function of the sss-wave scattering length as{a}_{s}as​ for N=2−−20N=2--20N=2−−20 fermions and different mass ratios $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ of the two species. On the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and BCS sides, our energies agree with analytically determined first-order correction terms. We extract the scattering length and the effective range of the dimer-dimer system up to $\ensuremath{\kappa}=20$. Our energies for the strongly interacting trapped system in the unitarity regime show essentially no shell structure, and are well described by a simple expression whose functional form can be derived using the local density approximation, with one or two parameters. The universal parameter $\ensuremath{\xi}$ for the trapped system for various $\ensuremath{\kappa}$ is determined, and comparisons with results for the homogeneous system are presented.
We perform a variational quantum Monte Carlo simulation of the transition from a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid (BCS) to a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) at zero temperature. The model Hamiltonian involves an attractive short range two body interaction and the atoms number 2N=3302N =3302N=330 is chosen so that, in the non-interacting limit, the ground state function corresponds to a closed shell configuration. The system is then characterized by the s-wave scattering length aaa of the two-particle collisions in the gas, which is varied from negative to positive values, and the Fermi wave number kFk_FkF​. Based on an extensive analysis of the s-wave two-body problem, one parameter variational many-body wave functions are proposed to describe the ground state of the interacting Fermi gas from BCS to BEC states. We exploit properties of antisymmetrized many-body functions to develop efficient techniques that permit variational calculations for a large number of particles. It is shown that a virial relation between the energy per particle and the trapping energy is approximately valid for −0.1<1/kFa<3.4-0.1<1/k_Fa<3.4−0.1<1/kF​a<3.4. The influence of the harmonic trap and the interaction potential as exhibited in two-body correlation functions is also analyzed.
We extend a recently introduced separable interaction for the unitary trapped Fermi gas to all values of the scattering length. We derive closed expressions for the interaction matrix elements and the two-particle eigenvectors. At unitarity we analytically demonstrate the convergence of this interaction to the zero-range two-body pseudopotential for sss-wave scattering. We apply this effective interaction to the three- and four-particle systems along the BEC-BCS crossover and find that their low-lying energies exhibit convergence in the regularization parameter that is much faster than for the conventional renormalized contact interaction. We find similar convergence properties of the three-particle free energy at unitarity.
Ultracold atomic Fermi gases have been a popular topic of research, with attention being paid recently to two-dimensional (2D) gases. In this work, we perform T=0T=0T=0 ab initio diffusion Monte Carlo calculations for a strongly interacting two-component Fermi gas confined to two dimensions. We first go over finite-size systems and the connection to the thermodynamic limit. After that, we illustrate pertinent 2D scattering physics and properties of the wave function. We then show energy results for the strong-coupling crossover, in between the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) regimes. Our energy results for the BEC-BCS crossover are parametrized to produce an equation of state, which is used to determine Tan's contact. We carry out a detailed comparison with other microscopic results. Finally, we calculate the pairing gap for a range of interaction strengths in the strong coupling regime, following from variationally optimized many-body wave functions.
Theoretical predictions for the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-Bose-Einstein condensation crossover of trapped Fermi atoms are compared with recent experimental results for the density profiles of 6Li. The calculations rest on a single theoretical approach that includes pairing fluctuations beyond mean-field. Excellent agreement with experimental results is obtained. Theoretical predictions for the zero-temperature chemical potential and gap at the unitarity limit are also found to compare extremely well with Quantum Monte Carlo simulations and with recent experimental results.